And carrying with you all the world can boast, O let my Muse her flender reed inspire, Till in your native fhades you tune the lyre: REMARKS. VER. 12. in your native fhades] Sir W. Trumbal was born in Windfor-forelt, to which he retreated, after he had refigned the poft of Secretary of State of King William III. P. VER. 13. So when the Nightingale] This is furely a mistake, for the nightingale does not fing till other birds are at reft. IMITATIONS. which now ftand firft* of the three chief Poets in this kind, Spenfer, Virgil, Theocritus. A Shepherd's Boy (he feeks no better name)- "A Shepherd's Boy (no better do him call)" 66 ---- -Αδύ τι τὸ ψιθύρισμα καὶ ὁ πίτυς, αἰπόλε, τηνα. VER. 9. And carrying, &c.] Happy is he that from the world retires, And carries with him what the world admires. P. Waller. Maid's Tragedy altered. *The learned and accurate Heyne, after much investigation, is of opinion, that the following is the order in which the Eclogues of Virgil were written: what is now usually called the fecond was firft; the third, fecond; the fifth, third; the firft, fourth; the ninth, fifth; the fixth, as it was called, to be the fixth ftill; the fourth, feventh; the eighth ftill the eighth; the feventh the ninth; the tenth and laft, as it was called, ftill the tenth. Vol. I. 205. The collection of paffages imitated from the Claffics, marked in the margin with the letter P. was made by the accurate and learned Mr. Bowyer the Printer, and given to Pope at his defire, as appears from MSS. Notes of Mr. Bowyer now before me. But But charm'd to filence, liftens while fhe fings, 15 And all th' aërial audience clap their wings. Soon as the flocks fhook off the nightly dews, Two Swains, whom Love kept wakeful, and the Muse, Pour'd o'er the whit'ning vale their fleecy care, Fresh as the morn, and as the season fair: The dawn now blushing on the mountain's fide, Thus Daphnis fpoke, and Strephon thus reply'd. DAPHNI S. Hear how the birds, on ev'ry blooming spray, STREP HON. Sing then, and Damon fhall attend, the ftrain, While yon' flow oxen turn the furrow'd plain. Here the bright crocus and blue vi'let glow, Here western winds on breathing roses blow. REMARKS. 20 25 30 VER. 17, &c.] The Scene of this Paftoral a Valley, the Time the Morning. It stood originally thus, Daphnis and Strephon to the fhades retir'd, Both warm'd by love, and by the Muse inspir'd, In flow'ry vales they fed their fleecy care; And while Aurora gilds the mountain's fide, Thus Daphnis fpoke, and Strephon thus reply'd. VER. 28. From Spenfer's Muipotmos. Purple year?] Gray has adopted the expreffion of the purple year, in the first stanza of his exquifite Ode on Spring. I'll stake yon' lamb, that near the fountain plays, DAPHNI S. And I this bowl, where wanton ivy twines, And what is that, which binds the radiant sky, VARIATIONS. VER. 34. The first reading was, And his own image from the bank furveys. REMARKS. VER. 38. The various feafons] The fubject of these Pastorals engraven on the bowl is not without its propriety. W. My friend Mr. William Collins, author of the Persian Eclogues and Odes, affured me that Thomson informed him, that he took the first hint and idea of writing his Seasons, from the titles of Pope's four Paftorals. So that these Paftorals have not had only the merit of fetting a pattern for correct and mufical Verfification, but have given rife to fome of the trueft poetry in our language. Mr. Collins wrote his Eclogues when he was about seventeen years old, at Winchester School, and, as I well remember, had been juft reading that volume of Salmon's Modern Hiftory, which defcribed Perfia; which determined him to lay the scene of these pieces, as being productive of new images and fentiments. In his maturer years he was accustomed to speak very contemptuously VER. 35, 36. IMITATIONS. "Lenta quibus torno facili fuperaddita vitis, of Diffufos edera veftit pallente corymbos." Virg. P. The Shepherd's hefitation at the name of the Zodiac imitates that in Virgil, "Et quis fuit alter, Defcripfit radio totum qui gentibus orbem?" P. Then DAMON. Then fing by turns, by turns the Muses fing, Now hawthorns bloffom, now the daisies spring, Now leaves the trees, and flow'rs adorn the ground; Begin, the vales fhall ev'ry note rebound. STREP HON. 45 Inspire me, Phoebus, in my Delia's praise, With Waller's strains, or Granville's moving lays! A milk-white Bull fhall at your altars stand, That threats a fight, and fpurns the rifing fand. REMARKS. of them, calling them his Irish Eclogues, and faying they had not in them one spark of Orientalism; and defiring me to erafe a motto he had prefixed to them in a copy he gave me; -quos primus equis oriens afflavit anhelis. Virg. He was greatly mortified that they found more readers and admirers than his Odes. VER. 41. Jing by turns,] Amabæan Verfes, and the custom of vying in extempore verfes, by turns, was a custom derived from the old Sicilian shepherds, and fpread over all Italy; and is, as Mr. Spence obferves, exactly like the practice of the Improvisatori at present in Italy. They are furprizingly ready in their answers, and go on octave for octave, and speech for fpeech alternately, for a confiderable time. At Florence they have even had Improvifo Comedies. It is remarkable that the celebrated Triffino, Leonardi du Vinci, Bramante, and the charming dramatic poet Metaftafio, were all Improvifatori. VER. 46. Granville-] George Granville, afterwards Lord Lanfdown, known for his Poems, most of which he compos'd very young, and propos'd Waller as his model. IMITATIONS. VER. 41. Then fing by turns,] Literally from Virgil, "Alternis dicetis, amant alterna Camoenae : Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos, Nunc frondent fylvae, nunc formofiffimus annus." VER. 47. A milk-white Bull.] Virg.-" Pafcite taurum, Qui cornu petat, et pedibus jam fpargat arenam.” P. P. P. O Love! DAPHNI S. O Love! for Sylvia let me gain the prize, STREP HON. Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain, Then hid in fhades, eludes her eager fwain; But feigns a laugh, to fee me search around, And by that laugh the willing fair is found. DAPHNI S. The sprightly Sylvia trips along the green, 59 $5 60 VARIATIONS. VER. 49. Originally thus in the MS. Pan, let my numbers equal Strephon's lays, But if I conquer and augment my fold, W. REMARK S. VER. 60. How much at variance] A very trifling and falfe conceit, and too witty for the occafion. IMITATIONS. VER. 58. She runs, but hopes] Imitation of Virgil, "Malo me Galatea petit, lafciva puella, Et fugit ad falices, fed fe cupit ante videri." P O'er |